How Do Cats Know What To Clean – The Interesting Facts!  

If you are a cat owner like me, you might have seen your cat cleaning and grooming herself numerous times. This is not just out of habit, you might think, because they even look good in appearance after they clean themselves, but how do cats know what to clean?

Cats learn cleaning and grooming from their mother. They know exactly where to start, which part of their body to lick, and how to groom their coat. Cats immediately start cleaning their kitten after they are born, and the cat herself also learns to clean and groom herself in the same way. 

Apart from this, there are certainly other questions that arise like the reason to clean, if cleaning and grooming make a cat happy or how much time do the cats give to cleaning or grooming themselves, and the things that are important to consider about cat grooming.

Why Do Cats Clean Themselves

Grooming accomplishes more than just keeping the cat in appearance. By promoting the production of sebum, an oily fluid produced by sebaceous glands at the base of each hair, this action helps to keep their skin healthy. 

Licking distributes sebum across the hair coat to lubricate, cover, and polish the fur. It even removes loose hair and mats and dirt and parasites from the cat’s body. 

Grooming is also a good indicator of a cat’s health. An untidy appearance in a cat can indicate illness, and older cats have arthritis; maybe they struggle to clean themselves enough to maintain their pristine look. Because of pain or worry, an emotional or physical condition may promote excessive grooming activity, such as licking a specific area bald.  

Where Do Cats Learn How to Groom

Like practically everything else cat-related, Grooming is something kittens learn from their mother. You may occasionally notice your furry friend lick her paws or chew on herself. Why do cats perform their own cleaning? The trait of self-grooming can be found in cats as soon as they are born. 

Mother cats lick their babies to clean them, stimulate urinating and suckling, calm them, and reinforce their attachment. 

Kittens begin grooming themselves from 4 weeks and then groom their mother, littermates, and other kittens shortly after. Self and allogrooming continue until maturity. 

Cat cleaning and grooming is an entirely healthy and natural process. It goes on from the kitten’s birth to the cat’s old age. If the cat does not groom or clean itself, this may suggest an issue that might be going on with the cat. Therefore, if you have always thought that cats clean themselves to look good in appearance, this is not the case. Several other physiological and psychological benefits are associated with a cat’s cleaning and grooming herself. 

How Do Cats Decide Which Part to Groom

Every cat has its own cleaning habits, although the majority of them begin with licking near the mouth, whiskers, and chin. Each shoulder and foreleg comes after that. She may then clean her flanks and hind legs, and then her genitals and her tail from tip to the end. 

A cat scrubs her face, head, and ears with a dampened forepaw, licking her paw after every few swipes to dampen it. Depending on whatever side she’s bathing, she’ll switch paws. 

Next, she’ll scrape the neck and ears with her back claws to clean and groom them. She grooms her back claws by nibbling on them, then she chews and claws an object to shape her front claws. 

The surface of a cat’s tongue is rough due to many spines or papillae. When a cat licks your skin, and it feels like sandpaper, you might have noticed this. These papillae allow cleaning to be more effective by holding onto the fur and combing across it.

Does Grooming Make a Cat Happy 

Yes, grooming makes a cat happy. And even when they are already happy, they will groom themselves and keep themselves clean. To indicate happiness and trust, they may groom other cats or even their owner. 

If they are unhappy, they will stop grooming and grow scruffy, and you will be able to tell if something is amiss by the way they look. A normal cat utilizes half of her wake time in grooming herself. 

Cats are sometimes also preferred over dogs because they are very much cleaner due to their tendency to clean and groom themselves. This also makes them look good in appearance and makes the owners happy as well when they see their pet. Cats are also seen as groomed and intellectual pets, and they leave no reason for their owners not to feel so. 

Being clean and groomed always makes a cat feel happy not only because it makes them look clean and groomed but also because it makes them feel healthy and excited. Cats cleaning themselves has numerous benefits that make a cat feel happy when entirely cleaned and groomed. 

How Do Cats Know When They’re Done Grooming

Cats mostly know if they are done grooming by their tongue. The surface of a cat’s tongue is rough due to many spines or papillae. Their tongue feels like sandpaper. These papillae help cleaning be more effective by grabbing onto the fur and combing through it. 

When they completely groom themselves, they can feel and know it through their tongue. Cats even have a remarkably strong sense of smell. If they have a foul smell, they would start cleaning themselves, and eventually, when they know there is no foul smell or no food particles or anything left on their body that needs cleaning, they would automatically stop. 

As discussed earlier, cats groom themselves to look good in appearance and for other benefits. This suggests that cats may also know they are done grooming when they feel contented and healthy from the inside. 

Things To Consider

When a cat cleans itself, it takes pride in the activity. However, sometimes there’s some concerns with it that you should consider:

Excessive Grooming

Excessive grooming can develop an obsessive-compulsive disorder, resulting in bald patches and skin ulcers in cats. Stress is a common cause of over-grooming in cats, which is similar to humans chewing their nails to the core. 

Cats, on the whole, despise change of any type. This excessive grooming could be triggered by a new birth, a death in the family, or even the shifting of furniture. Flea bites or ringworm are examples of physical causes. Thus these must be ruled out before diagnosing a stress response. 

Cats who were separated from their moms at a young age were not permitted to go through the usual weaning process and will often groom themselves by licking or sucking. This tendency will typically reduce and disappear with time when the kitten is kept in a safe and consistent setting.

Under Grooming

Your cat will appear and feel happier if she grooms herself on a regular basis. However, if your furball becomes ill, she may stop grooming. This could indicate the presence of arthritis, discomfort, or dental issues. If separated from their mothers very early, Cats may be unaware of how to clean themselves correctly. 

Keep an eye out for these indicators of under-grooming: 

• Bits of food on her face or chest after meals
• A rough or sticky coat
• Matted fur
• A harsh or oily coat 
• Urine stains on the paws
• Foul odor

Begin by brushing your cat daily to encourage her to groom herself. Brushing improves skin and blood circulation while also removing fleas and ticks. Try not to interrupt her when she begins grooming. It’s crucial for your cat’s health, so let her enjoy it.